Booking appointment - conflicting/confusing info

[LittleMiss77]

Hi everyone...

I'm 7+3 and have just returned from my booking appointment and i'm a little confused.

The Midwife attached to the surgery is on holiday so I saw what I am assuming (maybe incorrectly) is a 'locum' Midwife. She wrote my personal details down incorrectly, incorrectly recorded my weight and BMI (she added an additional 10 kg and 4 points to my BMI and gave me some conflicting evidence with regards to what I can and cant eat.

She told me that I cant eat any mould ripened cheese under any circumstances even if cooked and said that the only shellfish I can eat is prawns - provided I have brought, stored and cooked them myself and that I cant order any shellfish as a meal in a restaurant. I'm almost positive this is not what the NHS website states....

In addition to this she listed me as wanting to give birth at my local hospital, even though there are 3 hospitals in the area to choose from - she never asked me what my preference was (ideally not the local hospital!)

As i'm sure you can imagine, she hasn't filled me with much confidence!

Would someone be able to enlighten me as to whether I should be going by the midwife's advice with regards to food and if I can at a later date state that I want to change the hospital that i'm to give birth at?

[bonzo77]

Ignore the midwife. The nhs website has sensible guidelines.

Yes you can change hospitals. Not sure how. In my area you self refer to whatever hospital you fancy, including if you want to go out of area.

[PeppermintInfusion]

I was looking through my file the other day and noticed my mw had written comments about loads of topics we apparently discussed which we definitely didn't she also said I was definitely breast feeding when all I'd said was I'm not ruling anything out I'll give it a go. Also got conflicting advice about foods, contradicting nhs website and my GP.

Where I am you can go to any hospital you want and she just mentioned the ones nearest. As far as I know I can change it at any time.

[blackwidow74]

Don't stress ... Google the nhs guidelines and just rebook an appointment to see your regular midwife when she's back off holiday to get things done properly :) the changes can be made right up until labour ... nothing is set in stone!

[PeppermintInfusion]

Also think the MWs in the surgery are community midwives and seem to differ from the ones at the hospital in knowledge and experience eg the one in my surgery doesn't seem to be able to take my blood, so I have to go to a mw unit for that.

[AnythingNotEverything]

This is the best place for your "Can I eat..?" questions:

www.nhs.uk/Conditions/pregnancy-and-baby/pages/foods-to-avoid-pregnant.aspx

The guidance changes regularly. Your midwife probably just hasn't kept up.

And yes, my notes often contain a slightly different spin on our conversation than how I would report it.

[LittleMiss77]

Thanks everyone...

this is my first so i'm stressing a little - I assumed that the midwife would be the font of all (correct?) knowledge. Maybe not...

What isn't helping is that i'm feeling like death and the OH has turned from someone who was never overly concerned with how I was feeling to calling me every 15 minutes from work to make sure im ok, advising on what I should be eating and providing advice on how to manage my morning sickness. He appears to know more than anyone.... (I think he's just secretly excited!)

[PeppermintInfusion]

Littlemiss, my husband has been the same lol he has been doing a lot of research

It's my first as well, and I thought the MW would be really knowledgeable too, but most bar one haven't been. The last MW appt she measured my bump as being completely off the scale massive (she was measuring it at 32 when I was 25w!), gave me no reassurance or indication of what it might mean, just told me that my baby must be huge. After getting a bit worried I was at the other mw for bloods and mentioned to her so she arranged a scan and everything was bang on for the dates. Phew!
It seems you are left to your own devices quite a lot, even when the appts move to every fortnight.